Otra Ves: Of Strawberries and Whirlpools
by SashaSeer
Summary: A bit of wrong place wrong time, has caused Naruto Uzumaki and Ichigo Kurosaki to travel back in time, however they are not alone. Can these two Shounen Heroes save their respective worlds from the grips of war, can they fix what was broken, and can they keep themselves from killing the idiots that got caught along for the temporal ride? Probably not. A Crossover/Peggy Sue fanfic.


Prologue: How it all went wrong/Right the fuck outta nowhere

Disclaimer:

This is a non-profit fan work, written by me, SashaSeer. Aside from my OCs, I do not own the characters, the series that they appear in, nor do I own any of the references mentioned within, if I did bad things would happen. I do however own whatever crap I put them through. If anything seems copied from another fanfic author then it is a case of either great minds thinking alike, a very weird coincidence, all originality being dead, or an outright copying of said work, in which case I would've already received permission to use said bits from said author, and will say so at the end of the chapters in which they appeared in.

This is a crossover/Peggy Sue fanfic, and the only pairings that are confirmed are within the OCs. This may change as the story goes on, it may not, but whatever pairings do appear, note; I don't really care much about pairings. Yes I do like to see so-and-so with whats-is-name, but I don't mind if some-such ends up with that-one-in-the-back, etc. Getting into gripes over shipping wars is just dumb because, in the end, it's the creator's choice, not ours. All we can do is create our own interpretations and pray it doesn't end up like –insert bad fanfic name- or –insert equally bad fancomic name-.

Key:

This is regular text

"This is talking text"

'This is quotation text'

_This is flashback/internal text_

•This is telepathic text•

(This is Narrator/Author personal input text)

**This is loud (explosions, demonic, alarm, angry, giant, basically anything that is so loud you can hear it clearly from miles away/in the dead of space) text**

Ok I'm sick of looking at you all now, so start the damn fanfic already…

=0000000=

I used to wonder, you know, before all this craziness started, I used to wonder 'How would I be remembered?' I mean everybody thinks about it at some point, in some way. But for me it was different, considering… Anyways, remembered, right. I used to believe that what I did would make an impact, and people would look back and see what I had done, but how would they view all that I'd done. Would they cheer my name as a hero, or would they vilify my face as that of a monster. Would others be inspired by my actions, for good or for evil? Would children be sung to sleep by my deeds of glory, or would they be scared away from actions due to it bearing my name as a brand. In short, how would I be remembered?

But that was then…

Now, though? Ho, *sigh*, now I wondered what others would say if they knew the truth, about me, about that asshole, about everything. Heh, they'd probably ask things, like; 'Why did you trust that bastard, if you knew?' 'What possessed you to do those things?' 'When did you change?', you know, stuff that I wouldn't be able to answer for the life of me.

Well, no, that's a lie. I would be able to answer one of their questions; 'How did it all go wrong?' Mostly because, something that I only realised at the end, that's what I'd been thinking about all this time, since this whole mess began. How did it all go wrong?

The way I see it, there were three main things that set it off… The first of these, believe it or not, were three wars…

=0000000=

A war of life…

A war of death…

And, a war of dreams…

=0000000=

**Prologue**

How it all went wrong

-or-

_Right the fuck outta nowhere_

=0000000=

On the world of ninja… Somewhere within the Elemental Countries… In the height of the War of Dreams…

The young blond haired, orange wearing shinobi known as Naruto Uzumaki was preparing his next move, all while staring down the two men who had orchestrated the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Madara and Obito Uchiha, along with the incomplete Juubi (Ten-tailed Beast) the two were in complete control of. A monster so powerful and evil that the very chakra it produced was as horrid and foul as rotted oil marinated in dog vomit; a vile perversion of the Natural Energy surrounding the combatants. Naruto was suddenly very thankful to have been a jinchuriki, one with a demon sealed within themselves, since birth; his body was used to miasmic properties of demonic chakra. The others around him; his sensei Kakashi Hatake, said sensei's rival Might Guy, and the only other living jinchuriki Killer Bee, all were only able to stand the beast's presence due to Naruto's now faded purified tailed beast cloak, and all were exhausted. Guy from opening 7 of the 8 internal Gates, Kakashi from warping in and out Bee, who had been his full demon form, from the Cyclops' personal pocket dimension, and Bee for taking a Tailed Beast Ball head on. The only reason the young blond wasn't in the same boat as his older companions was due to his dispersed Sage Mode clone sending back all the remaining chakra it had left when it was crushed by one of the Juubi's tails. Before that however, using Sage Mode's pseudo-sensory abilities, Naruto had discovered that all of his other allies were on their way. They just needed time.

As the blond set up the typical hand signs used for any variant of the Clone Technique, in an attempt to stall the destructive force before him, the recently revived form of Madara Uchiha spoke, from atop his perch.

"Your dear Shadow Clones again? Even if you do use such a high-ranking forbidden ninjutsu, all it will do is multiply your own incompetence." the Uchiha pontificated to the ninja before him.

"WHOSE INCOMPETENT!?" Naruto yelled as he continued to stall for time, hoping that his gambit would pay off.

"Stop it, Naruto!…" Kakashi yelled from behind the teen, whom in turn just tuned the silver haired elder out. Naruto had to be prepared to perform the Shadow Clone technique, and get the others to safety, in the event that the Juubi made a move against them.

"…We lose this war." He heard Kakashi finish, but still the jinchuriki held his focus on those ahead of him.

"You are nothing more than a disorderly crowd." Madara continued to drone, his amusement at their little 'resistance' fading away with every second.

Naruto decided to do one of the few things he knew best; act completely stupid.

"Huh? Dis…disdor… What?" he asked, silently praying that the Uchiha would take the bait.

"You truly are incompetent." Madara responded, the annoyance clearly evident in his words. His intent was clear.

Obito, on the other hand, wanted to hold off on destroying the shinobi before them, mostly because while they couldn't do any significant damage to the Juubi in their current condition, the effort necessary to wipe them out of existence would slow the beast's growth, making it take that much longer before the Uchiha could use it's power to control the world. Not only that, but Obito had seen a shadow of his former self within the Uzumaki boy, and he wished to convert not only the boy, but also his former teammate Kakashi to his way of thinking.

"What Madara means is, even if you multiply yourself by a thousand, the substance won't change. You are still a powerless human against a demon of godlike prowess. So it's useless, and your persistence isn't heroic, it's stupidity. In the end, we are all just powerless shinobi, failing to do anything against the cruel laws of the world. One day, when you truly comprehend this fact, then you… no… then everyone will become hollow, exactly like me." Obito stated to those who, in his eyes, were the ones in most need of 'saving'.

Then, by chance, Obito, and by extension Madara, saw a sight that made their demeanour change, and had sent a stab of despair through Kakashi and the others: Naruto was shivering. Did this mean Naruto was giving up? Had Obito's words reached the boy? Was this the end?

"I WON'T EVER BECOME LIKE YOU!" Nope. "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT, DAMNIT?" Naruto continued, screaming at the two Uchiha, angered at the audacity they had to spit in the face of his determination "I WILL BECOME THE HOKAGE!"

Understanding finally sunk into Obito after that, and, upon hearing Madara through the link the two had with the Juubi saying •Finish it• Obito spoke, his final words to the pitiful resistance in front of him.

"Fine, if that is your answer, then my course is clear. There is no jutsu within this world that can surpass the Infinite Tsukuyomi." Obito announced to the weakened shinobi, before looking down upon Naruto and adding "I'll make you Hokage inside the world of dreams that we create…" The Juubi opened its maw, a gigantic Tailed-Beast Bomb started to form within the cavity of fangs… "So, until then, vanish from my sight, along with this pitiful world…."

The great beast fired…

=0000000=

On one of the vast, multiple iterations of Earth… Somewhere along the road near West Rukongai, in the afterlife known as Soul Society… In a momentary cease-fire in the War of Death…

A small party of Shinigami and one Modified Soul were heading towards the only entrance into the realm of the ruler of the cycle of life and death; the Spirit King. Amongst their numbers was the Substitute-Shinigami Representative of Earth, Ichigo Kurosaki. It had been close to an hour since he'd decided to accompany the other Shinigami to see the Spirit King, in order to get his broken Bankai, Tensa Zangetsu, repaired. Staring at the floating orbs that contained, not only the broken blade that was the form of his Bankai, but also the unconscious, barely stable figures of Rukia Kuchiki, Byakuya Kuchiki, and Renji Abarai; three of the many friends amongst the ranks of the Shinigami, Ichigo couldn't help but feel responsible for their current conditions. Just this morning, Ichigo had heard of the war that the Shinigami were having with a group calling themselves the Vandenreich, and then, like the idiot he was, Ichigo had gone off to their stolen stronghold Las Noches; a palace deep within the wastelands Hueco Mundo, the realm of the Hollows. If he had just stayed put, then the attack on the Sereitei, the headquarters of the Shinigami, wouldn't have happened, many would still be alive and well, Captains wouldn't have had their Bankai stolen by the enemy, and Tensa Zangetsu wouldn't be in need repairing.

But it wasn't only the guilt of the attack that weighed heavily on Ichigo's conscience; rather it was his treatment of Tensa Zangetsu itself.

17 months ago, when he had been trying to learn the Final Getsuga from the combined spiritual manifestation of his power and weapon, Ichigo had been told that his power had wanted, truly, to protect Ichigo, and that Ichigo's use of the Final Getsuga would mean losing Ichigo's Shinigami powers, and thus his power's ability to protect him. The sorrow within the manifestation's voice still sent pains throughout the teen's heart. Then his power was lost, and Ichigo, whom previously had become one with not only the Getsuga itself, but with all aspects of his weapon, for the first time since calling his zanpakutou's name, Ichigo could no longer feel it's presence within himself.

Then had come his time with Xcution, and his Fullbringer training to utilise the Hollow portion of his power. A power that Ichigo had never truly embraced, but one that had been with him since the beginning, if what his friend Chad said about the slight agitation in his soul had been indicating. While he was never really told by Ginjo, nor the other Fullbringers for that matter, about how training his Hollow powers would allow him to regain his Shinigami ones, he had assumed that because of his Vizard training beforehand, which was essentially calling upon his Hollow powers using his Shinigami ones as a medium, and merging them together, that they meant to turn him into a pseudo-Arrancar, and he'd be able to get his full set of abilities back, and then some. He even felt that that was the most likely case, especially after his Fullbring entered its final stage, and he could feel a faint whisper of his old powers once more. Then came Ginjo's betrayal, and the theft of Ichigo's Fullbring powers was a significant loss to him, one far greater than the loss of his Shinigami powers had been, and the agitation within his soul, which had grown to a quaking swell in power, was still.

The pain at not only the loss of his Hollow powers, but also his perceived last chance at regaining his Shinigami powers, sent the teen over the edge, only to be pulled from the brink by an old friend; the one who had awoken the Shinigami powers within him in the first place, Rukia. Ever since then the intense agitation that was his Hollow powers, and the steady embrace of his Shinigami powers, were, for the first time, truly mingled together without overpowering his soul. And yet, Ichigo was still a fool. He took Zangetsu for granted once more, like he had done so many times in the past. Where as before he felt Zangetsu as a reassuring hand upon his shoulder, and when the two were merged, as an indistinguishable part of himself, when his powers were returned to him, Ichigo felt Zangetsu as a comforting voice within his head. Which in turn made the breaking of Tensa Zangetsu's blade all the more heart breaking. Ichigo still wasn't sure if it was Tensa Zangetsu or not, but the very moment that pale haired Vandenreich member (A/N: Or Haschwalth for those following at home) had cut the black blade that was the weapon form of Tensa Zangetsu, Ichigo heard a scream of pain and terror.

Now as he walked with the members of the Royal Guard, heading for God knows where, Ichigo could only feel the still silence within himself. And it was crushing him.

_I swear…_ he thought to himself, _I will bring you back…_

_Both of you…_

=0000000=

Somewhere the void between realities… On a particular multi-universal junction point… In the heat of the War of Life…

Two massive intergalactic forces sought to destroy the other.

The first; the entire galaxy scale armada consisting of ships varying from moon to planet size in scale, belonging to the All Light Alliance, were fighting to destroy a conqueror, whose chilling reign of terror stretched far and wide as the 'Spiralling Maw that Devours the Heavens' all to reclaim someone even worse. A king whose cruelty is feared throughout the cosmos. A monster that crushes the sun, and laughs at its pitiful heat. A beast that defies logic, and destroys the hopes of others. An unkillable demon, that rises, again and again, to kill all that oppose it. The destroyer, whose mantle is soaked in the blood of all those who failed to destroy it, holding a blade that can cleave through any opposition.

The second force in this battle; the planet-sized warship, belonging to the Great Crimson Locust Brigade, prepared to fire all batteries at their foes, each foolishly marked as a light within the sky. Striding out onto the command deck proudly stood the one who had united this rag tag group together, and charged forward into the fray. A lone digger from a hole in the ground, with eyes on the heavens, and the encouraging words of his brother echoing within his ears, this single human accomplished what few others even dared to dream. Hijacking the weapons of his oppressors, toppling the forlorn king of monsters, advancing his people in leaps and bounds, silencing the messenger of despair, leading the charge against the those that would stifle his power, drinking the ocean of the dead, rising out of the pits of hell to kill the devil, and then assault the gates of heaven to bring back the greatest of them. He wasn't needed yet. They were winning, and in a few more moments, it wouldn't even matter anyway. His goal was in sight.

However, unbeknownst to both sides, a lone mechanical shark, roughly the size of a small city, was trying it's damned hardest to prevent a worse case scenario from tearing apart three quarters of that specific sector of the multiverse. This is the mechanical life-form, known as a Zoid, that is the home and transport of the Quantum Hammer crew, and it is these individuals that are the cause of everything. If they weren't at that particular point in space-time, everything wouldn't have gone to crap in a handbag. But that is neither here nor there… No, right now, they are just trying to survive the hell they've managed to find themselves in.

"Spatial-chronol surges have regdesed our main weapons out of commission…"

"Did anybody else just hear that now?"

"ALA have surrounded the Cathedral…"

"Dimensional stabilisers compensating for Spiral fluctuations…"

•You're all of you going to die, AND IT'S NOT BECAUSE OF ME! AAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!•

"**Alert! Large collection of Elstram Energy detected…**"

"Incantation arrangement completion: 46%, Magical Circle Array completion: 18%, Energy output…"

"Stragglers are laying down heavy fire, requesting permission to use the St. Michael…"

"I swear that that was a Narrator's voice just then…

"We need to use the Forward-Lance…"

"Forward-Lance is charging…"

"No wait!"

**BOOOM**

"What the hell was that?"

"**Alert! Forward-Lance has been destroyed…**"

"Why does that always happen?"

"I tried to warn you…"

"Seriously, didn't anyone else hear that narration…"

"Oh, for crying out loud stop talking about phantom Narrators and try steering this hunk of crap outta this shit-storm!"

"Fine, fine. Seriously it's not that ba…oh shi… CAP WE'RE TOO LATE!"

"My precious Forward-Lance…"

"CAP!"

"WHAT! CAN'T YOU SEE MY FORWARD LANCE HAS BEEN DESTROYED!"

"IT ALWAYS GET'S DESTROYED! BUT NONE OF THAT MATTERS RIGHT NOW BECAUSE WE'RE TOO LATE!"

In order to emphasis that point, the surrounding stars and galaxies started to coalesce to a point, light-years away, the stardust trail resembling an inward spiral.

"SHIT! ACTIVATE THE QARD! **NOW!**"

The spiral kept pulling and pulling, thousands of millions of galaxies into it's centre, until…

**KRAK-A-THOOM!**

The resulting explosion took out an entire quadrant of the All Lights Alliance before it engulfed the Carrier Zoid, overloading all of its systems with enough Spiral Energy to power an entire galaxy for a centillion years.

"**Alert! Spiral Energy Overload! Dimensional Tether severed! Jump Co-ordinates are unknown! Prepare for scattering…**"

"EVERYBODY HANG ONTO YOUR TEETH!"

=0000000=

Back in the world of Ninja…

The great beast fired, but nobody was hit, nothing was damaged, there wasn't even so much as a breeze to dictate that the ball of demonic energy had even passed them by. Openning his eyes, Naruto saw something completely unbelievable, considering how much power was within the attack. The blood black Tailed-Beast Bomb of the Juubi, mere inches away from the young Jinchuriki's face, was hung, frozen in mid-air, and getting smaller with every second, as a lime green spiral started to form within the technique. As the ball continued to shrink, the internal spiral started to shift form, from a whirlpool into a vaguely humanoid shape, until both it and the Juubi Tailed-Beast Bomb faded away into the aether, leaving behind a young, lean, semi-attractive man, who proceeded to then land on top of the young ninja. This was a little jarring, for all who had witnessed the event. Hell Naruto was damn sure that even the Juubi was stunned by this turn of events, if it's rearing back was any indication.

"You know I was just thinking about how this day could get any more annoying for me. I'm sure having Biggy send us directly into the event horizon, again, was on the top of someone's list, and when I find that person responsible there WILL be hell to pay. Of that I can guarantee…" the stranger said to himself, in a tone that just oozed anger and sarcasm.

After the two had untangled themselves, Naruto could see that the man was easily in his early-mid twenties, just under the six-foot mark, with a dirty blond, bird's nest sort of hair just pushing the boundaries of being considered short. With an odd set of eyes; the right being blue and piercing, and the left a soft, warm, green, the rest of the man was fairly average looking in terms of appearance. Until you saw his clothes, that is. A think black headband kept not only his hair out of his eyes, but also prevented anybody from seeing the forehead above his eyebrows. An off white doublet vest coat hybrid covered a sleeveless dark blue turtleneck sweater, and connected via chest crossed belts to a single piece of shoulder armor, worn on the left shoulder, with a single sleeve, of the same fabric and colour as the doublet, keeping the left arm covered. The shoulder armor had a strange decal of a hammer enclosed within a gear. Along with that, the man wore a simple grey pair of combat pants, tied off by a blue cloth belt over the vest coat, with a regular one underneath it that held up the pouches on his hips, black fingerless gloves, and a wristband on his exposed arm. From what Naruto could see, underneath the pants the man also wore some kind of shin guard that extended halfway along his foot, aside from that his feet were bare.

"Goddamn lower entities. Every, single, goddamn time. I mean sure, you might not know what a tear in space-time fabric of reality is, but you could at least have the curtesy to help someone up who's just recently been dropped on his face…" the man spouted, probably to himself, dusting what he could off of his clothes.

"Who are you?" Obito asked the stranger, after he had regained some measure of composure. This seemed to snap said stranger out of his mini-rant, and finally take stock of where he was, considering how he then started to familiarise himself with his current surroundings (which at this point was a clearing of uprooted trees and overturned rocks, in the middle of a forest, with six ninja and a beast from before the age of ninjutsu).

"I repeat, 'Who are you?'"

"Oh, nobody of concern, I mean, not in a few minutes anyway…" the man said with an almost too innocent smile at the man who had been Kakashi's former teammate, before he started to size up the four opposing the Juubi, Naruto and Killer Bee in particular.

"And why might that be?" the revived form of Madara asked the individual.

"Because of that." the man answered, pointing to the spot where he had arrived, where the spiralling whirlpool was back once more, except growing, fast, and not forming any other shapes to indicate that someone else was coming through. The man spoke up again, gaining everyone's attention once more "In about 5 minutes that right there is gunna consume this entire world, and reset everything back to a point in time when I wasn't here, memories included. So why should I tell you who I am, if your not going to remember it in the end anyways?"

"And if we were to kill you?" Madara asked, steeling his eyes against the man.

"You can try, but even if you could, that won't stop It." the stranger replied in a matter-of-fact tone, before he turned back to inspect, and poke, the orange clad ninja once more. "Now you on the other hand…" he said to the boy, who was simultaneously confused and irritated, "Ho boy are you gunna feel that in the morning, ouch…"

=0000000=

Back in Soul Society…

"Feel what, exactly?" Ichigo asked the unidentified swordsman, after the two had unsnarled eachother.

The whole thing was messed up; first, when the Royal Guard had finally showed Ichigo where they were taking him, he could not believe what he had seen. Two giant stone statues of his old ally Ganju Shiba, holding up the banner over the Shiba house. Second, as the group was getting ready to go to the Soul King's Palace, Kukaku herself came out, mostly to say 'Having some technical difficulties, come back tomorrow.' It was then that the stranger toppled out of Kukaku's Flower Cannon, crashing in a heap on top of the teenage powerhouse in the process. Which led to the third wrinkle in Ichigo's quest to repair Tensa Zangetsu; the explanation this man had given the Royal Guard and their entourage about why using the Flower Cannon was a bad idea at the time, something about a dimensional tear or some such. Obviously none of the group actually heeded his warnings, and that was when he identified himself as a swordsman. He had no idea how the man had concealed it, but as soon as that huge Ichibei fellow tried to move past the stranger, said stranger's sword was suddenly in his hand and barring entry along with his body.

In Ichigo's short life, he had seen far less shocking things than a sword appearing out of nowhere, it was most likely a special Kido or something. No the thing that unnerved Ichigo about the whole thing was when the unknown swordsman proceeded to threaten the members of the Royal Guard, backed by his spiritual pressure, and kept the same stern, nihilistic expression upon his face. It all made Ichigo feel as if he were looking at Ulquiorra reborn. Seriously. Even the man's features were the same as the erased Cuatro Espada, minus the tear like marks. It was only after this initial shock that Ichigo decided to take a closer look at the swordsman.

Physically he looked way too much like Ulquiorra for Ichigo's liking, though his skin wasn't as pale, his hair was slightly longer, and he looked older, much older (A/N: late 20s early 30s for those following at home). Aside from that while his face wore a similar expression, his eyes burned with an intensity that didn't match the teen's memory of the swordsman's look-a-like. More, his style of dress was different as well. Where Ulquiorra had woren the standard Arrancar uniform, this man wore something more akin to a jack-of-trades swordsman. His pants were a simple pair of pocket-less tan jeans, and whilst they weren't too loose, they were able to conceal the shin guards of his boots. Said boots were green, like moss, but appeared to be made of a flexible material, but also provided protection, if the metal plating on the toes and shins were any indication. He wore an almost plain dark, skin-tight shirt. Plain, save for there was a symbol of a large hammer, enclosed within a gear, emblazed on the front. The only other distinguishing feature was what appeared to be a muffler connected to the shirt protecting the man's neck. Over the top of that shirt was a sort of jacket, the same colour as his boots, with sleeves that reached down to the man's knuckles, and had a pauldron covering shoulder on his left. Said jacket only covered the arms, hands, chest, and shoulders of the wearer, yet even then it was too small to even attempt to close it. Aside from that were his belts. The two crossing his chest looked as if they might be there to hold a pair of swords, or keep his tank-top jacket from restricting his movements too much, but the four across his waist were the strangest. He had a simple one, mostly for holding up his pants, but the next one was an elaborate kilt, belt, cape that was open at the front so as not to restrict movement, and with holes on the sides, probably to hide more swords, but it was long enough that it shielded his legs from view. Heck the only reason Ichigo knew the Ulquiorra wannabe was even wearing jeans was because the obscuring cape, belt, whatever didn't reach all the way down, leaving his feet and ankles exposed. The other two belts were over the top of the cape one, only there to hold any swords he might have kept on his sides, probably. His only other features were the small scars on his exposed skin, though there were probably others on his body, each scar corresponding to a place where Ichigo's blade had struck the real Ulquiorra.

The only other difference to the ex-Arrancar that Ichigo could find was the swordsman's voice. Whereas Ulquiorra's was completely devoid of anything resembling an emotion (at least during his sealed state), the strange swordsman before him had a voice that sounded as if it were restraining all of his emotions, in an effort to sound empty.

After the Royal Guard had apprehensively decided to back down (It wasn't everyday that some random swordsman could make them back down), they decided to question the man, to no avail. This was mostly because after the first question was asked, the swordsman directed everyone's attention to the interior of the Flower Cannon, where a spiralling mass of energy was rapidly growing within. He then told them that the energy was of no concern, something about temporal reset, and said that the only one he was worried about, was Ichigo himself. The swordsman's exact words being that Ichigo was "going to feel it in the morning."

This then brought on Ichigo's question of "Feel what, exactly?" to which the swordsman responded by pointing at the spiral behind himself.

"Because of our entanglement earlier," he explained, in his restrained voice "the energy of the spiral behind me has rubbed off on you, thus meaning that whilst everyone else is going to be caught in the temporal rewind, you will be brought along for the ride, and then shoved back into your past self. And it's going to hurt, bad. Extremely bad."

"What do you mean by ba…" At that moment Ichigo was cut off, as the energy had finally grown to encompass the sky, and the world, aside from him and the swordsman, disappeared in a sea of spiralling green…

=0000000=

Then reality opened up.

In their respective worlds, Naruto Uzumaki and Ichigo Kurosaki could see the endless expanse of the cosmos. So enraptured were they by this spectacle that neither of them noticed the other's presence, nor the ones belonging to the two that had accidentally brought them along for this journey. All of time and space lay bare for the two teens to witness, and witness they did; understanding it all though is a different story entirely.

And, as soon as it had happened, everything started to move in reverse; days, weeks, months, years, all flying past the four observers. They could see it all. From Ichigo's reclamation of his powers to Naruto's inner struggle against Kurama. The time when Ichigo had been lazily staring down Aizen in his Butterfly form, was juxtaposed with Naruto fiercely glaring down the sickly form of Pain's true form, Nagato. The various training regimes the two have endured. All their triumphs, all their failures, each and every adventure that had shaped them into who they were, the two teenaged heroes relived each and every one of those moments in the blink of an eye, all whilst being watched by the two strangers that had set about this course of events.

Along with their individual pasts, both Naruto and Ichigo, as well as their two observers, could see flashes of their own worlds' past, and how those events affected their own journey. Ichigo saw how much his friends had struggled to keep up with not only their opponents, but also with him. Naruto saw how his abilities had changed those around him, for better and worse. All of these images flew by them, leaving behind faint impressions, all until everything around them faded into black.

=0000000=

Author's Segment:

And there we have it folks, the prologue of Otra Ves. Now to address the four major issues with this fic.

Firstly: The crossover element of the story.

Aside from that bit at the end, the actual crossover between Naruto and Bleach will be very minimal at best, at least at this point in the planning stage. This element is subject to change later on.

The reason why I've done it this way is because of laziness. Yes I am very lazy, as such when I originally planned out this series, I had intended it to be a grand cross fic series, each dealing with their own world, and the two I had pegged from the beginning were Naruto and Bleach, which for those who were following earlier were covered in my now erased series 'A Dimensional Collision'. However I bit of way, WAY more than I could chew, and I ended up running into a series of writer's blocks three miles high.

So I instead decided to combine the series into a single fic, with the odd numbered chapters taking place in one of the verse's mentioned, and the even numbered chapters taking place in the other. Though that is also subject to change.

This then leads into my second point: Dimensional Collision

As I said earlier I decided to combine what I had planned into a single fic because of complications in the writing. Where initially I was going to have 2 chapters to set up everything, and then have the 3rd chapter be in all the fics, just with a different perspective. However doing about 15 chapters with 6 rewrites for one of them, took me to my limits.

Thus laziness kicked in, and I decided to combine what I already had planned into a single fic.

Thirdly: The timeframe of the prologue.

Like I said earlier this is a rehashing of my previous series 'Dimensional Collision' which I had started writing in August of 2012, over a year ago, before all the other plot elements in both Naruto and Bleach had started (like what happened to Kurama's Yin Chakra, and the spirit that we've assumed as Zangetsu being revealed as a 1000 year younger version of Yhwach), so I hadn't had those plot reveals thought out when I had started writing, and one of the main issues as to why it took so long as to rewrite it was because those plot elements screwed up my plans for this story and had to be worked around first, before I could continue.

Finally: What does Otra Ves actually mean?

Well when I was doing research on the phrase, I had found that it meant 'Once Again'. Though recently I found that it means 'Again'. Either way I originally picked it because of the 'Once Again' meaning, but I've decided to keep it as the title, because I like the sound of it.

Now that all that stuff is out of the way, onto the acknowledgements; This fic was inspired entirely by Third Fang and his Naruto fic 'Yet Again, with a little extra help…' (Seriously go read it), and by Mac Ceallach and her Bleach fic 'Hogyoku Ex Machina' (Another one people should really read). Other inspirations are too numerous, and don't have as much weight in this chapter, to even warrant a single mention yet.

And that's it for now, so eat, drink, and be merry, for next time we really kick things off with:

**The Quantum Hammer's Guide to Time Travel**


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